Saturday, July 8, 2017

Agents Panel: Quressa Robinson

Quressa Robinson joined the D4EO Literary Agency in 2016 after working as an editor for five years. She represents a wide range of literature in the adult and YA market and is actively building her client list. Quressa was an acquiring editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she edited both fiction and nonfiction. Her acquisitions include Certain Dark Things (a Publishers Weekly Fall Announcement Top 10 Pick and B&N Staff Pick) and The Beautiful Ones, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; Spells of Blood and Kin (which received a starred PW review) by Claire Humphrey; and The Atlas of Forgotten Places by Jenny D. Williams. She is an alumnus of the University of California Santa Cruz, and Columbia University’s MFA program. www.d4eoliteraryagency.com

Quressa shares that she started as an editor (for five years) and is a "hungry new agent, building a list."

She wants to get lost in the world of a story, to be passionate about it and feel a personal connection. She's interested in #ownvoices stories, character-driven, darker, timeless.

She cites two titles she acquired when she was an editor as indicative of her taste,

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno Garcia

and

The Atlas of Forgotten Places by Jenny D. Williams

And on Quressa's passion for #ownvoices stories, she says,

"Not only are publishers and editors and agents asking for more, there are also more breakout successes. …Keep 'em coming. We need more."